More likely it’s “We’re sorry to see a few customers leave, but we’re not going back.”

CC may get cheaper, there may be more subscription options in the future, but one thing that isn’t going to change is that they’ll be subscriptions.

G

I hope so. I honestly don’t mind the subscription idea long-term, as long as the plusses are there, like more frequent updates. But I’m not “delighted” (their word) about paying $20/month for AI when I only use it around once per quarter for a rare logo or layout gig. Photoshop, maybe. I would, however, be “delighted” to pay around $15 for PS and $7 for AI, maybe even bundle both for $20 (build-a-bundle?), and Adobe could count on that from me every single month. You know, if they really do want to “delight” me.

I suspect we will never get the “build your own bundle” option, simply because most people would probably fall in the 3 to 4 app category – and they can’t make money off $21 per month.

G

At 4 apps, the suite starts making sense. For 2-3 apps, maybe the first app is x dollars and additional apps are less? Either way, Adobe has reported record revenue since 2011 with the current “bad” system, in which they aren’t making more than that from me per year. But $20 per app, per month, straight, is simply too much for any app that I don’t use daily. That’s my rub.

Trippie

It’s frustrating when corporate PR is seen as openly communicating. One of the top comments I’ve heard from friends and on the web about this is that after a year or two, when everyone is locked in, Adobe can and will simply raise the monthly price to increase its profits and there’s nothing any of us will be able to do about it. I doubt they’ll ever address that concern “openly”.

Mikey

I see the future of raising the price a bit of a red herring. Surely that is a possibility, and Adobe has shown little integrity since it’s founders retired, but the current subscription pricing is already providing Adobe with substantially increased cash flow. Yes, the lose money on a SMALL number of Master Suite users, but for the most part this is like phone contracts: get a “free” phone for a $1500 2 year contract.

All those photographers who only bought photoshop, etc. are paying the same price the CS users are. And over time this will be a windfall for Adobe. We may see pricing go down (I doubt this, but an honest company would).

If Adobe gets too greedy, third party companies will jump in to provide solutions. Adobe has bought all of their current competition, but smart people see backlash as an opportunity.

Finally, I have faith in the great equalizer: hackers. The hacker community will crack this encryption as they have others. I have always said that some amount of piracy is healthy for software. Adobe’s current licensing recognizes this by letting software on two computers, not simultaneous (home use). If I can’t use the software on my own time to enhance my skills, I will use something else. If that something else is “good enough” I’m going to tell my company about. My company will investigate and if there is value, they will change.

Right now, the time is ripe for a company to step up. Personally, I’ve always championed the idea of Apple buying Pixelmator and rolling out an iWork Pro, but they have let iWork languish so much I don’t see much hope of this anymore. But Pixelmator with some serious developer resources could compete well with Photoshop. I’m sure there are vector programs that could be polished to compete with the turd that Illustrator has become as well.

Trippie

Photographers who only bought Photoshop in the past can have that single program for $20/mo instead of $50/mo for all the apps.

Adobe has proven itself to be greedy over and over in the past. They buy up their competition and raise the price, just like cellular companies. And when was the last time your cell contract actually got cheaper? Never gonna happen. If you don’t think Adobe will raise the monthly fee in a couple years, I have a few bridges you might like to buy.

Competition would be great, but unless a competitor nearly as big as Adobe enters the market, they will just be bought up and folded in.

Sorry Jim, but how does this qualify as “communication”? Ok, on a strictly technical basis, it’s a message from Adobe, to users. But what does it actually say?

“Yeah, we know lots of you are pissed at us, stick around and we’ll have an answer for you sometime soon. Maybe.”

Seriously, if Adobe didn’t anticipate this kind of response and these kinds of legitimate concerns (i.e. what happens to my file access if I stop paying?) before announcing CC then it shows management up for the incompetent, money-grubbing weasels that they are.